Baldur's Gate, but they're all ensigns on a Galaxy-class starship
If you are silent about your pain they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it - Zora Neale Hurston
This is one of those posts where I feel like I'm doing others and myself a disservice by not sharing. I wish someone had shown me this a long time ago.
Maybe I'd be having to do less work to break out of this shell, now.
...All of the above.
Tell your truth, and don't be afraid to have it be heard... because this is not a dress rehearsal.
It's difficult when you've spent years being a "good person", a "exceptional one" and the first time you complain, people left you. Even some of the ones who say they loved you. But once the fake people leave you, the trustful ones will be able to enter.
One under-appreciated breed of fic writer are the ones who hyperfocus on logistics to the exclusion of all canon shortcuts, and thus usually strike upon an awesome way to flesh out the worldbuilding or characters.
Like, I’m not necessarily talking realism here since often it’s still pretty far from realistic, but more like, “someone has to be running spies in this fantasy kingdom, and we’ve seen the whole royal court, so which background character is it? How does that change these three major interactions?” Or “real life historical nobility did in fact have some things to do that were like jobs, how does this human disaster cope with running an estate?” Or “there’s no reason for a sci-fi robot detective to know how to whitewater kayak, where’d she learn?” Or “if this guy is serving the emperor directly he has to be way high up in the space empire servant hierarchy, why is he doing this menial task for someone else? What’s his motive? Does he perhaps have the secret space telepathy?”
Anyway I’m always DELIGHTED to find a fic or writer who asks these questions because the fics themselves are universally bangers.
person who knows how logistical things works has picked up the cannon, hefted it thoughtfully, and put a single chalk mark precisely on the problem.
I was thinking through what else I’m looking forward to this holiday season and I realized I haven’t mentioned it on here, just on discord, but— MY MOMS BEEN MAKING ME A REALLY COOL ART THING??
I think I’ve talked about it before, but my mom has been a quilter for most of my life and in the last few years started doing these really cool fabric collages, and it was my turn to request one so I asked for a phoenix cause I’m obsessed with this one art piece I did in art therapy ages ago
Anyway, my mom has been working on it and THIS was the last update I got???
I’m so excited for it?? Can’t wait to see where it’s at by the time I get there this weekend
dude holy fucking shit???? this is. beyond insane. i also quilt, though i've never tried paper piecing - though this doesnt even look like that. this has surpassed any and every sort of traditional quilt work. i can't even imagine how this is put together. im just staring at it in absolute wonder. youve short circuited my brain with how beautiful that is, and 'beautiful' isnt a strong enough word for what this is
So, as far as I can tell, this is a technique involving cutting tiny pieces of fabric with the colors/patterns you want and pinning and using fabric glue, and then sometimes sewing over top depending on the size of the pieces (this is what I’ve gathered from listening to my mom talk about it, but I know she learned the technique from a specific artist I can’t remember the name of who sells books and classes). My mom also frequently uses tulle over areas with lots of small piecing, usually as a way to adjust color but also I think cause it’s easier to sew the tulle piece than try and quilt aaaaalll of the little bits and pieces.
Here’s some pics from the workroom when I visited in November, and some pics from in-progress pieces before they were finished, if that gives you a better idea of how it works ^^
And here’s some finished pieces!
Update! I asked my mom for the name of the artist who she learned the technique from! If you’re curious about this style, you can find more info on her website! https://susancarlson.com/
Apparently she’s very generous with free tutorials as well as having books and workshops
Update! Re:technique, it’s mostly glued at first, with extra glue as well as some free motion quilting on top over areas that don’t have tulle over them, and tulle stitched over some areas.
Also updates on the phoenix!
You can kinda see the metallic details on some of the fabrics chosen! I love them. Also a glimpse at some of the bits cut out to use in the tail!
I’ll sneak into the quilting room for more closeups of this and other pieces before I leave ^^
Updates! (First, oops I forgot to get more pics of the work room when I was home; family visits are always busier than expected)
I was given two options for background as my mom was finishing up the bird part—
I ended up picking the greener one cause I love all the gold stuff, and my mom added even more gold details for that mythical feel
So this is the current most recent form!
I'm going out of my fucking mind.
the second eel at the end in its little cuck shelter 💜
eel deets from @whitefangthefightingwolf
There'll be mulch when you are done
Lay your wormy head to rest
Don't you crawl no more